Pineda-Montero swapped

but the more I think about it I really like it.

This now leaves quite an opening for the Yankees at DH. Fielder is now an option for the Yankees.

Pineda doesn’t have much of a change, is fly ball prone and has an injury history, and it’s easier for the M’s to replace his production with a pretender like Jarrod Washburn than it would be for a potential all star bat like Montero’s. They’d need to develop one seeing as no hitter will dare to go there. I do agree that Montero is overrated and I don’t think he’s a top 10 prospect, but I think Pineda is being overvalued more. Only real downside I see for the M’s is that they could have gotten more, but the possibility of getting someone like Montero was probably too good to resist.

Montero will lose a lot of offensive value in switching from the Yankees stadium to the Mariners

Why doesn’t the same apply to Pineda?

Most don’t like it, and I think a majority of them don’t like it for the Campos / Noesi part. Sullivan himself seems to be slightly down on it, Cameron isn’t thrilled about it either but thinks it opens up some other moves for the M’s.

I think Pineda for Montero straight up is fine. The biggest questions are how you rate each person involved. I like Pineda, but he’s got weaknesses. Weaknesses that might be more exposed in Yankee stadium than SafeCo. Montero I’ve talked about on here before. I like his bat, I don’t like his positional insecurity. I think that they’re both equal in value, honestly.

Like others, I’m not exactly thrilled by the Campos and Noesi parts. Though, I actually value Nova less than Noesi, and according to Jason Churchill the Mariners were demanding him instead. Noesi was the settlement. Frankly, I think we got the better end of that. Campos is someone I like, but he’s just way too far away for me to really care about at the moment. But, for Noesi to be good, he’s going to have to rediscover his control that he had in the minors. Moderate strikeout and low groundball rates don’t thrill me when you’re slightly worse than league average at walking guys. But I guess I understand the potential, so I’ll give him a shot. Campos, to me, looks like what Noesi was a few years ago. Take that for what you will.

Landing two big arms in Pineda and Campos is huge. They may have taken on more risk, but that’s OK.

However, it’s not hard to see why the Mariners made this deal. They traded from their organizational strength in order to add some long term offense that the team desperately needs. Montero’s bat should have no difficulty playing.

disagrees with you about his ability to limit HR’s

Rare when that happens, especially when it impacts teams for another decade, not the typical veteran star for lots of pieces trade.

Seattle gets a top hitter to DH/C for them and give protection to a young lineup.

NYY get a top pitcher who isn’t yet 23 and they never really had a spot for Montero anyway.

With CC, Pineda, Kuroda, Nova and another piece, the Yanks are now the favorite not just in the East, but right next to the Angels for the AL. Mariners are starting to look like they will have a young offense to compliment that young pitching staff.

Maybe the best part about this deal though: no more “King Felix to the Yankees” talk.

How to best phrase this? I think the M’s gave up more than the Yankees did, but I might prefer the M’s side of the deal. I don’t love Pineda’s health, and while Campos is a big get, I think Montero is a stone cold lock to be a superstar bat. Those do not grow on trees. If healthy, then it should be worth it for the Yanks. They didn’t have a position for Montero, anyway. But oh boy, can that man hit a baseball. The M’s just managed to get the middle of the order bopper they need, and between Montero and Ackley, they suddenly have a very exciting young lineup.

I’m happy with the trade as a whole but am saddened to see Montero go. You’ve got to give something to get something, and I think people are maybe over-evaluating this trade. Imagine you’re Jack Z and you get a call from Cashman and he says he’s willing to give you Montero for Pineda. Do you even blink given your cache of arms and need for hitting? You probably ask for a nice back of the rotation arm (Noesi) and Cashman asks for someone with a high ceiling that they don’t have to put on the 40 man roster right away.

Now imagine you’re Cash and Jack Z calls offering Pineda for Montero. You love the kid’s bat, but you don’t have a real #2 behind Sabathia for 2012 that doesn’t have serious questions (Hughes? Nova?). Maybe you’ve already received an indication that you’ll be signing Kuroda so you know that Noesi is absolutely expendable. You offer to swing him for Campos to sweeten the deal a bit for you.

I believe this is an absolute win for both teams, though I favor the Yankees side of things because, as always, they can just spend money to get what they don’t have and good hitting is easier to find than good pitching. I hate this as a fan, and maybe that’s why I like this trade (and the Kuroda signing) so much. Both really help the team a ton and it isn’t just financial muscle that was used to do so.

I’ve been arguing for a while now (offline) that trying to find out what a player’s ERA when he moves to the Yankees is a little, unnecessary. They have one of the best lineups in the game. What they really need are pitchers that give you six or seven innings an outing and give up four or fewer runs. That gives the current iteration of the Yankees a darned good chance to win the ballgame (just ask Ivan Nova). You get the ball to Robertson and Mariano and you most likely bag the win. Jeter and A-Roid will continue to regress, but the development of Cano, Gardner, and Granderson really compensates for that. The DH position now can host Jeter, A-Rod, Swisher, Tex, Cano, etc. every once in a while while continuing to give Nunez the opportunity to develop in the hopes that he can take over when Jeter eventually retires. Sure Pineda didn’t do well against the AL East last year, but you can consider that a small sample size and the fact that he was 22 years old might mean that he could have different results say next year, or even the year after. That K rate is pretty darned good and the G/F rate is pretty bad. Still, give me a league average 22 year old SP who was so good in the first half of the season that he made an all-star team and I’ll take my chances.

So with this trade almost assuredly helping to better the Yanks rotation, does anyone foresee a knee-jerk reaction from the Red Sox here?
Just putting it out there…

I was upset because I’m heavily invested in Jesus in keeper leagues and really wanted to see what he could do with a full compliment of ab’s in Yankee stadium.

The more I look at the trade I think it is a win win for both teams. Mostly because of the pitching in the pipeline for sea and their need for an impact and possibly elite bat. Still, I think there is also a lot less risk for sea here as well.

Sure, he will get better. But that 70 power sure hasn’t shown up yet.

They each got what they needed.